"Taxis should form part of the overall transport policy in Kilkenny" - Local Councillor

Taxi drivers are set to operate from a temporary taxi rank in Patrick Street for the upcoming Savour Kilkenny festival in a continuation of last year’s arrangement but with a twist!

Similarly to last year, the temporary taxi rank is expected to return to Patrick Street, but for this year’s Savour festival, the council will be erecting 'large signage' and parking attendants will be on sight policing the area, according to independent Cllr Eugene McGuinness. - READ MORE HERE 

Reflecting on last year's arrangements, Cllr McGuinness said: "I don't think taxi drivers and the taxi industry were treated terribly well in the last number of years. They (Kilkenny County Council) need to do more."

"I have a taxi license myself, I'm well aware of the difficulties of taxiing and taxis should form part of the overall transport policy in Kilkenny, you have buses and taxis and I mean you won't get a bus at 12.30am," Mr McGuinness commented.

"You have a huge amount of people coming to Kilkenny for Savour and it will generate a huge amount of money for taxi drivers as well but they need to be accommodated too and it's not that easy accommodate another rank in Kilkenny just for those few days so I understand the difficulty the county council has but whatever difficulty you have you have to do it in the most professional way possible," he added.

"Sticking up a cardboard sign at what end of a street is not a taxi rank and it does look like you're being disrespected if you're a taxi driver when they think they can throw you all over the place or anywhere they want to throw you and not be professional about it," he said.

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"So I'm confident that this time it is going to be dealt with professionally and they are going to police it because last year they put up their plastic signs but anyone could park there and it completely disrupted the whole taxi situation but this time it's going to be different."

"I have no intention of letting the people I know and the industry I know be treated badly," the independent councillor stated.